Lyr Req: Jealous Lover / Luella / Ella / Florilla

Subject: Does anyone know the name of this song??
From:
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 09:57 AM

Does anyone know the name of the song that goes with the lyrics below? It might be an old, old folk song dated somewhere between 1910 to 1955.

Down in this wood I love you
From me you cannot fly
No human arms can save you
For Ella you must die

What have I done dear Edgar
That you must take my life
I always have been loving
And would have been your wife

Down on her knees before him
She pleaded for her life
Into her snow-white bosom
He plunged the fatal knife

Dear Edgar I forgive you
Was her last and dying breath
Her pulse it ceased beating
And she closed her eyes in death

If anyone could identify this song, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Help: Does anyone know the name of this song?
From: Pinetop Slim
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 10:17 AM

Don't know this one's name, but it seems to be a relative of Pretty Polly.

Subject: RE: Help: Does anyone know the name of this song?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 10:18 AM

The names vary, therefore it is not easy to find, but here'as a close fit from the DT database of songs: Fair Florilla.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Help: Does anyone know the name of this song?
From: LR Mole
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 01:09 PM

Pat Sky did a satire on it called "Yonkers Gal". He would know something I bet, him and his Oilly Anne pipes.

Subject: RE: Help: Does anyone know the name of this song?
From: catspaw49
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 01:12 PM

Always glad to see another Pat Sky fan!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Help: Does anyone know the name of this song?
From: Catrin
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 01:16 PM

Phew! I thought this might turn into a definitions of 'folk song' debate!.....

Subject: Lyr Add: JEALOUS LOVER / LUELLA / ELLA
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Sep 11 - 12:33 AM

From Body, Boots, & Britches: Folktales, Ballads, and Speech from Country New York by Harold William Thompson (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1939), page 388:

Another of the doleful favorites is The Jealous Lover, otherwise known as Luella or Ella, and by other titles. One of the longest and most poetical versions is this, from the North Country:

Down in the valley lonely where the violets fade and bloom,
There lies our own Luella in a cold and silent tomb.
She died not brokenhearted, or in lingering sickness fell,
But in one moment parted from the home she loved so well.

One night when the moon shone brightly, the stars were shining too.
Beneath her cottage window her treacherous lover drew,
Saying, "Love, come let us wander into the meadows gay,
And undisturbed we'll ponder and name our wedding day."

Deep, deep into the forest he led his love so dear.
Says she, "It's for you only that I have wandered here.
The way is dark and dreary and I'm afraid to stay.
Of rambling I am weary and would retrace my way."

"Retrace your way nor ever no more these fields you'll roam.
So bid farewell to parents, to friends, and to your home;
For in this forest I have you; from me you cannot fly.
No human heart can save you; Luella, you must die!"

Down on her knees before him she pleaded for her life,
But deep into her bosom he plunged the fatal knife.
"O Edwin, what have I done, that you should take my life?
I always have been loving, and would have been your wife.

"Farewell, my dearest parents; you ne'er will see me more,
Though long you wait my coming at your old cabin door.
Dear Edwin, I forgive you." With her last and dying breath,
Her heart it ceased its beating; her eyes were froze in death.

In a version current in Little Falls, the motive for the murder seems to be Emily's refusal to take a walk with Edgar:

"No, Edgar, I am tired, and do not care to roam;
No, Edgar, I am weary and would rather stay at home."
Up sprang her jealous lover, with madness in his eye,
Up sprang her jealous lover, saying, "Emily, you must die!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jealous Lover / Luella / Ella / Florilla
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Sep 24 - 06:29 PM

Joe - check with Philippa

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jealous Lover /Brother
From: Felipa
Date: 02 Sep 24 - 06:51 PM

There is an entirely different song, collected in Nova Scotia from Nathan Hart, also called the Jealous Lover: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=42138#615819 It is about someone who shoots his lover in a case of mistaken identity and a fit of jealousy.